I think my 12-month-old has some anger management problems. About two months ago she started doing this yelling/grunting thing and it is seriously the worst sound in the world. When it first started, we decided to ignore it and sure enough it went away. We felt so proud. But then it came back...then it went away...now it's back again! It usually lasts a week or two. She does it when she wants something and the sound just grates on my ears. It's painful. I try to ignore it but she just does it louder. I really don't get it. I feel like she's yelling at me. I'm just baffled by what to do with this thing. So now I question ALL of my responses to it: am I reinforcing it, am I making her think I don't hear her frustrations, blah, blah, blah. Basically what I'm saying is...HELP!!!

Maybe it is teething, if you had constant pain for a week or two wouldn't you be extra crabby and want to make an extra scene? I know I would!

Other than that all I can say is relax, trust me before you know it this will be gone and you will have new things to worry about.

My DR recommended getting an mp3 player and listening to music so that the crying, whining, yelling etc weren't quite as irritating. Just make sure that the music is low enough that you can still here all the important stuff.
Hope this helps...

I agree with the signing! It is never too late to start something like that and maybe you can even teach the sign for "ouch" and your little one can tell you that it's teeth that are the bother. It's worth a try . But seriously because it's hard when they're loud and you feel like you need to fix it.

I started signing with DD1 when she turned a year old. She picked up her first sigh after 3 weeks and by the age of 2 had 50 signs. It really helped her communicate with me and she seemed to understand so much more. Give it a try!!